The Kick Off....Lord Help Me.

June 1st marks the 'official' start of hurricane season.  I have knots in my stomach about this.  For many reasons.....

1.  This is my first true hurricane season in Miami.  We lived here last year or at least through part of the season.  But, we were in a condo with little personal belongings of our own.  At that point, our strategy was to just run and drive away from it all.  This year...we are homeowners.  Much different. 

2.  Last year, Miami was unaffected by hurricanes.  Or, even a tropical storm of any kind.  There was nothing going on.  Nothing.  My assistant, who has lived here for 20 years, told me she has a 'feeling' this is going to be a bad year.  Great.  Just want I want to hear.  While were were house hunting, the reference point for anything roof, AC, etc related was 'Hurricane Andrew'.  We would hear things like this all the time..."Well, this roof has been around since before Andrew" or "We replaced the AC unit right after Andrew" or "well, these hurricane shutters made it through Andrew".  It's the barometer for all things. 

3.  I have a child.  We live one mile from the coastline.  We don't get shielded by 30 miles of being inland.  I don't even want to think about the fear of protecting her through anything disastrous.  Can't even talk about this one. 

4.  The 'Think.Plan.Act.' lists that are everywhere.  All over the place.  This is good, because I need a list.  I'm a novice.  But, I don't want to think about what all we need to do to prepare now that it's 'the season'.  They warn you to have enough on hand to last 7-10 days.  Without electricity.  A guy in my office was in the eye of Hurricane Wilma.  He went 6 days without electricity.  If we stay in our house, you put the hurricane shutters up, lock yourself off to the outside world (and sunlight) and hunker down.  Hmmm...doesn't sound fun.  Kyle and I watched a show on TV the other day about all the things you need to do to be prepared.  We have so much to do.  So much I can't even think about it.  Things I didn't even know we had to think about. 

5.  I'm pregnant.  Have I told you that??  I'm due Sept 3rd.  So, if we do in fact have an 'active' season, this means one of three things.  I'm close to going into labor, I'm actually in labor OR we have a newborn at home.  Someone told me that if you're more than 8 months pregnant and a hurricane comes, they send you to the hospital.  Hurricane's have a tendency to push people into labor.  Great. 

So, I cannot wait for the next 5 months to pass.  Please pray for an 'inactive' season.